Yes, an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure

Preventive measures, even small ones, can be life changing and lifesaving. They can safeguard drivers and passengers in car wrecks, protect young folks during a bad flu season, and ensure that fewer Americans still take up one of the proven, major health harms — smoking.

Yes, that’s a correct figure: Roughly half of those killed didn’t use one of the most publicized, almost reflexive safety steps around.

The “lack of seatbelt use remains a major public-health problem in this country,” Leonhardt reported. “About 15 percent of American drivers don’t wear one, compared with less than 5 percent in several European countries. That’s one reason the United States now has the most dangerous roads in the industrialized world … Vehicle deaths here have also risen significantly in the last few years, after decades of decline.”

The flu shot is far from perfect and it carries risks. But those are far outweighed by the benefits, particularly the collective ones, that can result when more, rather than fewer Americans get vaccinated.

Speaking of killers, there’s yet another simple precaution to take against smoking, one of leading disease causers of the last century: Just don’t start this unhealthy, addictive habit. And medical and scientific experts have taken some new knocks at Big Tobacco’s newest, fancy ways to get young folks hooked with so-called e-cigarettes and vaping.

The blue-ribbon group said studies show that the devices may be safer than regular cigarettes, with lower exposure levels for their users of tar and other deadly substances generated when tobacco is burned. The devices and vaping may help adults reduce their smoking to their benefit.

But the scientists also slapped back at Big Tobacco’s latest clap-trap — underscoring that the devices and vaping, contrary to industry claims to the contrary, still expose users to harmful nicotine and other unknown chemical perils due to liquids they use.

The new scientific findings — combined with excellent, consistent push back from groups like the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids — just prompted a top FDA advisory panel, separately, to reject a request by Philip Morris International “to market a smokeless tobacco stick in the United States as safer than traditional cigarettes,” the New York Times reported.

The newspaper added:

The product, called IQOS, is an electronic pen-like device that heats tobacco sticks but does not burn them. It releases nicotine vapor, which the company says is less hazardous than smoke. It is already sold in 30 countries and is especially popular in Japan.

Philip Morris has sought a “modified risk” designation for IQOS, hoping to be deemed a safer smoking alternative under a new FDA plan to slash smoking by decreasing nicotine levels in traditional cigarettes and allowing market options.

Big Tobacco sees big money in winning an FDA blessing for its latest products, on which it has dropped major development sums. The company touts IQOS, arguing it heats tobacco only — it does not rely on mystery liquids. Search around the Internet and the device appears to sell for $20 to $25, with the tobacco sticks that get burned it going for $20 or so for packages of 10.

No, I’m not providing hyperlinks to make it any easier to find this unhealthy stuff, folks. But this is a product we’ll need to watch out for, and to see that young folks don’t adopt.

In my practice, I see not only the harms that patients suffer while seeking medical services but also how auto, truck, and motorcycle wrecks can wreak havoc on their lives — and how their good health can be savaged by smoking and its myriad harms. Those among my kind regular readers may find the preventive measures discussed in this post a bit familiar. Maybe we need to share them, almost like adages, with the slower to enlighten: You know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Or maybe, repetition is the mother of learning?

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